It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
by cheri1
Summary: 10/Rose. On a distant planet, the Doctor and Rose flee from a rainstorm and find an old house to shelter in. It seems abandoned but is it really? FINISHED.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Oh God!" Rose said as she and the Doctor fought their way through the pelting rain. "This is horrible. Didn't you know this would happen?"

"No, because it hardly ever rains on Balbonia. The TARDIS is many things but she's not a weather forecaster," the Doctor replied.

They had landed on Balbonia to enjoy a moonlit picnic. The planet was much like Earth with green grass, forests, a wide stream with a Victorian-type purple house nearby and a starlit night with two moons. They had put a blanket down by the stream and were enjoying supper and the night sky when it started to cloud up. At first they weren't worried, not even when a few drops of rain started to fall. But then the rain fell harder and faster and by the time they decided to go back to the TARDIS, the rain was approaching a downpour. They had hiked for some time to get to the stream and while the walked back to the TARDIS, the rain pelted them and Rose used the blanket to try to protect herself, wrapping herself in it while the took off his trench coat and put the collar on his head and wrapping it around himself.

"We're not gonna make it, we're gonna drown!" Rose said as the rain stung her face and the wind picked up speed.

"I doubt we'll drown but we'll catch a cold if we stay out in this much longer," the Doctor yelled, blinking when the rain hit his eyes.

"What about that house we saw?" Rose said to him. "D'ya think they might let us stay inside until the rain lets up?"

The Doctor thought about that. They were a few miles from the TARDIS and he had no desire to go the whole way in the deluge. He nodded and both of them turned back. Luckily, they were walking with the wind now and the rain was at their backs but they were still soaked and both their hair were plastered to their faces. By the time they made it to the house about a half hour later, they were both soaked to the bone and shivering with the cold and the wind.

The house was three stories tall, painted purple with white trim and a white wooden door as well as a wraparound verandah. They walked up onto the verandah and the Doctor knocked at the door. They couldn't see any light in any of the windows and the Doctor wondered if the house was occupied. He figured they would wait for a few minutes and if there was no answer he would use his sonic screwdriver on the lock. As they waited, he glanced at Rose who was sniffling and shivering. Her hair was matted and stuck to her face and the Doctor knew she was miserable. The blanket was completely soaked, providing her with no warmth. He checked the inside lining of his coat and found it to be dry. Without explanation, he took the blanket off Rose and threw it away from her. It landed with a splat on the wooden verandah and Rose thanked the Doctor when he draped her in the coat. She grabbed the lapels and closed it shut while the Doctor knocked again.

"I don't think anyone's home," Rose said.

"Well, I'm not staying out here then," the Doctor said, reaching into the inside pocket of the jacket for his screwdriver. "If there is someone in there, we'll tell them the door was unlocked and we were in need of shelter. We both need to get warm and that overrides the need to be polite and wait for an invitation."

He used the screwdriver on the lock and opened the door. The lights were out and the Doctor reached into his trouser pocket for a torch while Rose shut the door. He turned it on while Rose shivered beside him.

"It's cold in here, feels like it hasn't been heated in ages," she said.

"Well, houses like this usually have a fireplace so let's go find one and get warm."

"Sounds good to me," Rose said.

They walked through the front parlor and through a couple of rooms before they found a fireplace. The fireplace was made of white stone with carved lion heads on each end of the mantle. The Doctor examined it and to his relief, found a few unused logs. He swung the torch around and saw a red velvet sofa at the back of the room. He noticed a patchwork quilt at the end of it and he took Rose over to it. He made her lay down and covered her with the quilt. Rose felt her skin getting warm while she watched the Doctor make an inspection of the room. There was a matching red velvet chair and a cherry wood table between it and the sofa. There were no lamps or anything that appeared modern or at least modern in the sense of Rose's time. He told Rose he would be near by and he moved into the next room with the torch. The next room was the dining room with a huge oak table and high backed chairs. There were two large oil paintings of people on the wall to the right of the table and the Doctor looked at them.

The first one was a man who looked like he was from Shakespearian times. He had long curly brown hair that reached past his shoulders and a pencil thin mustache on his thin face. He was dressed in Elizabethan clothes. The other portrait was a woman who looked a bit pale and sickly. She was thin and sallow with dark circles under her eyes. She was wearing a plain cotton dress that had a gently sloping neckline. She was smiling but it seemed like a weary smile to the Doctor. He stared at them for a moment and then continued his investigation. He moved into the next room and found the kitchen. To his relief, there were two used candles in gold candlesticks sitting on the wooden counter. He used his screwdriver and lit them. He put his torch away and guided himself back to Rose with a candle in each hand.

"Found candles, now we have a way to light the fire," the Doctor said, putting one candle on the table beside the sofa.

Rose sat up and watched while the Doctor set the other candle down by the fireplace. He fished inside his trouser pockets and found a few pieces of scratch paper. He lit them with the candle and stuffed them between two of the logs. He worked until the logs finally caught fire and then he walked to the side of the fireplace, picked up the grate and put it in front of the opening. He put the other candle on top of the mantle and stood by the fire, enjoying the warmth as the blaze grew. There was a window behind the chair and the glass shook from the wind and they could hear the rain pelting it. Rose watched the rain running down the glass in rivulets.

"Glad we're not out there," she said.

"Yes, I'm finally drying out. Felt like I never would," the Doctor said.

"Did you find anyone?" Rose said.

"I found two portraits on the wall in the next room. Man and a woman. They looked like they're from Elizabethan times. Other than that, no."

"I don't think anyone's been here in a long time," Rose said.

"Perhaps. There isn't any dust on the furniture and the wood looks newly cut," the Doctor said. "There could be someone here, they're just upstairs and didn't hear us because of the storm."

"I hope they're friendly," Rose said. "Last thing we need is someone chasing us around the house with an ax."

"I'll try to find someone," the Doctor said. "You stay here and keep warm."

"Are you sure? I could go with ya, just in case," Rose said.

"Nah, I'll be fine. Just stay here and warm up. I want to make sure we're welcome here if the house is occupied."

Rose squeezed his hand and the Doctor smiled as he squeezed back. He walked over to the mantle, took the candle down from the mantle and Rose watched as he walked back to the front parlor.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Rose lay on the sofa and watched the fire dancing over the logs. She was warm now and comfortable. The sofa was very plush and comfy. Looking at it, Rose considered whether the Doctor could bring the TARDIS into the room and she could take the sofa for her room if no one was in the house.

That's what worried her. There seemed to be no electricity in the house and the firelight didn't go very far. If there was someone creeping up on her with an ax, she wouldn't be able to see them until it was too late. She kept getting up and going to the doorway to make sure but she didn't know how much good that would do if someone was standing just behind it.

Her eyes flicked over to the window when she heard a distant rumbling.

"Bugger, now thunder and lighting will be added to the storm," she muttered. "I'm glad we found this house and we didn't have to go back to the TARDIS in this storm. Leave it to the Doctor to find a planet and land on the day a major storm hits. Not to mention finding a house that might have an ax murderer."

She shook her head. Thinking about a possible ax murderer was giving her the creeps and making things worse. She wished she had gone with the Doctor. At least if something happened, she would have been able to protect him and vice versa. Sitting here, she was on her own until he came back to her.

She tried not to think about that and concentrated on the fire instead while the wind rattled the window glass.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had found the stairs and was slowly going up them. Each step he took made the steps squeak but the sound was masked by the storm. He paused a moment and groaned when he suddenly heard the sound of thunder.

"Great, I find a planet so Rose and I can have a nice picnic and I manage to land during the planet's first ever monsoon season," he muttered.

Guilt pricked at his mind while he climbed the stairs. He didn't care about himself but he hoped that Rose wouldn't catch pneumonia from their time out in the storm. He made a mental note to give her a check-up in the med bay when they got back to the TARDIS; just to be sure she was alright. He hated to see her shiver, especially since she usually went with him blindly wherever he chose to go. He hated that the people he loved down through the years ended up getting hurt or suffered because of him.

He shook his head, banishing the melancholy thought to the back of his mind. Rose was safe and warm and out of the storm so he could focus on finding out if the house was truly vacant. He noticed that the house didn't seem to be broken down, dusty or dirty. There was a slight layer of dust but not enough to indicate the house had been vacant for years.

He stopped near the top when he noticed two more portraits hanging by the stairs. It was the same man and woman, only with different clothes on. The man had a proud look on his face but the woman still had the same sickly, depressed look. He stared at the woman a moment wondering who she was. From the portrait she looked like she had never been in good health, but that was just his mind fleshing in the details. He had never seen them before so they weren't famous, at least not famous in a universal sense. After a moment he gave up imagining who the woman might have been and what life she might have led and continued up the stairs.

When he reached the top he was at the beginning of a long corridor with closed doors on either side. One door near the back grabbed his attention because he swore he saw light coming from the crack under door. He put his hand in front of the flame of his candle, cupping it slightly so the light would be dimmed. He looked again and his suspicions were confirmed. There was light coming from a crack under the door. Someone was here.

He started to go towards it when his finely tuned hearing detected the slight squeaking of the stairs through the storm. He spun around and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Rose's face illuminated in the candle she held her in hand. She was halfway down the stairs.

"Sorry, I got bored and the house is creepy. I thought I might be able to help," she said. "Didn't mean to scare ya."

The Doctor was happy for the company. He was used to Rose being at his side the majority of the time and he also thought the house was a bit creepy. Besides, it would be better and safer if they confronted the owners of the house together. He put his finger to his lips and beckoned to her. Rose came up the steps, pausing to look at the portraits for a several seconds before joining him. The Doctor pointed to the light under the door.

"There is someone here," Rose said softly.

"Think so," the Doctor said softly.

"They don't hear us?"

"The storm is loud, probably hard to hear us through it. I barely heard the squeaks as you came up the stairs. We go together towards the door. I'll knock on it and explain what we're doing here to whoever's in there."

Rose nodded and she walked with them while they walked down the corridor. There was carpeting on the wooden floor but it was threadbare and the purple color had faded with age.

When they reached the door, Rose was shocked when they heard faint crying coming from inside the room. The Doctor paused a moment, leaned forward and put his ear to the door. Rose could tell from the weeping that it was a woman but she wondered if the woman was alone or if there was a man with her who might get pissed off when he realized there were strangers in his house.

The Doctor leaned back up, looked at Rose and shrugged before he knocked on the door. To Rose's amazement, the weeping didn't let up and in fact she thought it sounded like it had increased. The Doctor knocked again, louder this time.

"Miss?" he said loudly. "I'm sorry to disturb you but my friend and I got caught in the storm and we needed shelter. We hope it'd be alright if we could stay the night? Could you please open the door?"

"She's still crying," Rose said when they got no response.

"I hate to barge in on her but if she's weeping something must be wrong. I tried to be polite but…"

He tried to open the door but it was locked. He used his screwdriver to open it and told Rose softly to go behind him and be prepared if someone tried to attack them. Rose nodded and got behind him, holding the candlestick with both hands. The Doctor slowly turned the knob and opened the door enough to stick his head inside.

"Oh my…" he said when he put his head in the room.

"Doctor, what's…"

Rose didn't finish his question because the Doctor threw open the door and went in. Rose followed him and she froze when she saw the woman. The room was completely empty and the woman was kneeling on the floor with her back to them. She was dressed in a plain white dress that looked Elizabethan from the back and she was rocking back and forth while she sobbed uncontrollably. What was even more disturbing was the wall in front of her had blood streaks all over it and I KILLED HIM was written in blood on the wall in front of the woman's head.

"Miss? Madam?" the Doctor said, moving slowly towards the woman. "I'm the Doctor. I can help you if you'll let me. What's wrong?"

Rose followed him and stopped when the Doctor came up beside the woman and knelt down beside him. He was looking at something under the woman's head with shock and horror on his face and he quickly stood up.

"What is it?" Rose said.

"Careful," the Doctor said when Rose moved past him to see what he saw.

She froze when she saw the woman's arms and hands. She was clutching a dagger in her right hand and there was blood on the blade running down the hilt onto her hand and from there down her arm onto the sleeve of her dress. From her vantage point, the dress did look Elizabethan which struck Rose as odd but she remembered they were on another planet and perhaps Elizabethan dresses were in style here. Her heart went out to the woman who was still sobbing uncontrollably as she rocked back and forth. She didn't seem to notice them so Rose knelt down and asked her name. The woman didn't answer her and sobbed harder.

"Did you write this?" Rose said, pointing to the wall. "Did you kill someone?"

The Doctor knelt down beside her but the woman continued to be lost in her grief and despair. Then suddenly he realized something.

"Rose," he said.

"Yeah?"

"Remember when we saw a light under the door?"

"Yeah."

"There are two candles in the room, mine and yours. Do you see any other candles or any sources of light? Because what is lighting this room besides our candles?"

Rose looked around but the only candles in the room were the two they brought inside. There was no extra candles, lanterns, torches, electric lights, nothing. But they saw a light coming from underneath the door. Suddenly, Rose was very nervous.

"No lights and she's acting like we're not here," Rose said softly. "You don't think…"

"I saw her before and you did as well. She's the woman from the portrait. There's another portrait of her in the dining room and she's wearing a dress like this one in that portrait."

Despite her fear, Rose reached out and touched the woman's back and she gasped when the woman vanished the moment she did it. The extra light faded and the room was lit only by the two candles.

"Um…Doctor, maybe we should get out of here," Rose said.

"Yes, I think that's a good idea," the Doctor said. "Come with me. We'll go back to the fireplace and figure out what's going on here."

Rose meant get out of the house and back to the TARDIS but the storm was raging and she knew they were trapped in the house for the moment. She swallowed hard, hoping that if the woman had been a ghost, she had been a benign one and she went somewhere where she wouldn't do anything to them. The Doctor beckoned to her and Rose took her candle and left the room with him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

By the time they reached the fireplace, Rose was glad to be far away from that room and back in the comforting light. She felt a bit strange but she figured that was just nerves and the shock of what she saw in the room. She wanted to sit back down but the Doctor was beckoning to her and she followed him into the next room. She froze when the Doctor pointed to the portrait of the lady; it was her down to the dress she wore. Rose held her candle up and walked over to the other side of the table.

"Was it a ghost?" she said, half to herself and half to the Doctor.

"I don't believe in ghosts, you know that," the Doctor said behind her.

"Then what d'ya think it was?" Rose said, turning to him. "She gave off her own light, she didn't respond to us and she vanished when I touched her. What else could it have been?"

"It could have been many things, Rose. It could have been a hologram, one reality bleeding through another, a traveler from another time or a glimpse of a person from another time. Don't automatically assume the supernatural."

"Okay, I might believe a hologram then since she seemed to be giving off a light of her own. But why would you put a hologram in an empty house?" Rose said.

"Don't know but I'm not jumping to conclusions and thinking the house is haunted," the Doctor said. "Having said that, I think we should investigate further. Perhaps we can find the explanation for what's going on somewhere in this house. Do you want to come with me or split up?"

"I'd like to go with you but maybe we'd get more done if we split up," Rose said.

"Okay, you stay down here, I'll take the first floor and perhaps we'll share the second floor and any floors above it," the Doctor said.

"So I find something and I just scream?" Rose said.

"Well, you might wanna come and find me first before you scream. But if it's an emergency then scream all you like and the Oncoming Storm will be at your side. Unlike the ongoing storm which is outside."

Rose chuckled when the Doctor gave her a cheeky little grin.

"See what I did there? Oncoming Storm, ongoing storm, I'm brilliant."

"Yeah, yeah, go and start your investigation before your ego fills up the room and suffocates us all," Rose said fondly.

The Doctor winked at her and turned to exit the room.

"Be careful, my love!"

The Doctor froze and turned towards Rose. Rose, for her part, was slightly shocked at hearing herself call him her love. That part sorta slipped out without her thinking about it but she liked the fact that the Doctor seemed thrilled by it. He put his candle on the table and gave her a firm hug. Rose put her candle down next to his and returned the hug.

"You be careful as well. No getting into trouble or I shall be cross," he teased.

"Trouble? Me?" Rose said, feigning innocence.

The Doctor snorted at the innocent act and patted her head before he picked up his candle.

"Good hunting," he called over his shoulder as he left the room.

"And you," Rose called out.

Then to herself she said, "My love," loving the sound of it. She surprised herself by saying it just then. She never really had the courage to say it or anything like it but it felt good to finally get it past her lips. After all, she did love the Doctor with all her heart. A wave of sadness washed over her when she realized that she had never really told the Doctor she loved him and he had never done the same. He loved her, she was sure of it so why couldn't he say it.

_Yeah, yeah, Time Lord curse and all that, but still…why won't he say I love you to me? What's the harm in it?_ She thought.

She frowned.

_Why am I suddenly fixated on this train of thought anyway?_ She thought. _He has never said the words but I can see by his actions and the looks he gives me that he does love me…but still, why won't he tell me he loves me?_

Rose shook her head and cleared her thoughts. There was a time and a place and now was not the time to confront the Doctor with the fact that he'd never said he loved her. He was doing a task and she was given the same task to do so that's what should be focused on at the moment. Still, it'd been over two years since she'd known him and it was past time to admit his feelings for her, right? If he was such an Oncoming Storm, why couldn't he muster up the courage to say three bloody little words then? It didn't take that much courage to say three fucking words and…

Rose forcibly stopped her train of thought since not only was she trailing off into the why he won't love me territory again now she was beginning to get angry about it. She took a couple of deep breaths and muttered, "Task at hand, task at hand…" She kept her mind on her mission as she used the candle to navigate out of the room.

The Doctor stood at the top of the stairs and cupped his hand over the flame. Now there was no light coming from under the door or any other door. Still, he walked over to the room and opened the door, determined to find a credible reason for the woman's disappearance. He shined the firelight around, trying to find a holodisc but there was nothing on the floor except dust. On the wall, however, was the blood stains and the writing but now it was faded and he could tell the blood stains were old, not fresh like before. That puzzled the Doctor.

"Okay…the woman could have been a hologram but that blood was fresh so how did it fade and dry so fast?" he muttered to himself as he walked over to it and bent down.

He ran his hand down one of the blood stains and looked at his hand. Nothing on his hand, except dust.

"But it was fresh, I could see that much," the Doctor said. "Gotta be some illusion. Can't be a real ghost, there is no such thing as ghosts. Just some silly human explanation for things beyond their understanding. Well…very little is beyond my understanding and I'll find out what's going on here if it takes all night!"

He turned and walked towards the door, intending to check the other rooms in the hope that something inside one of them would shed a light on the mystery.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Rose was impressed with the house while she was conducting her investigation. She loved the old Victorian house and now she half-jokingly wondered if the Doctor could get the whole house inside his TARDIS. She smiled, imagining the house right next to the console room and she would be living in her space while he lived in his and they could visit each other for tea. The image of that made her chuckle and she made a note to share that image with her bestest mate. She was sure he would laugh at the mental image as well.

There was one thing though. Ever since she touched the woman, she had been feeling odd, almost like that woman was…inside her.

She froze at that. When Cassandra took over her body, she remembered knowing what was going on but being powerless to stop her from controlling her body. But this was different, she was in control of herself but it seemed like there was another consciousness within her and this consciousness was badgering her about the Doctor and her relationship with him. It was beginning to frighten her and she decided to try to find the Doctor in the hopes that he could help her get rid of the ghost or whatever it was.

XOXOXOXOXOXO

The Doctor was inside a bedroom a few doors down from the room where he found the woman. He located two more candles and all three candles were on a teak wood chest of drawers, providing enough light for him to walk around and inspect the room. The bedroom was elegant with expensive and imported wood used for the furniture including a Baldarian Ash wood bed with a carved headboard. The black wood had carved ivy running all through it and in the center of the headboard was a carved raised circle that was surrounded by the ivy. Inside the circle were the initials RA. He leaned in for a closer inspection of the initials, running his fingers over the raised letters.

"RA. Is that the initials of your name then, mystery woman?" he muttered to himself.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor straightened up and looked at Rose who was standing in the doorway.

"Find something?" he said. "I may have found something here."

"Doctor…when that woman vanished after I touched her. I think…she went into me…like Cassandra did, except she hasn't taken over my body but I can feel her there."

"So…the hologram might have been a trap then," the Doctor growled as he walked over to her.

"Doctor, can you help me?" Rose said. "If that woman is in me can you get her out?"

The Doctor heard the fear in Rose's voice and he took the candle from her hand. He put it on the chest of drawers and told her to sit on the bed. Rose sat down and stared at the headboard.

"RA," she said.

"Yes, that's what I was going to show you. I found that just before you came in. I gather it's the initials of the woman's name."

"Rebecca Addleston."

The Doctor froze when Rose spoke to him.

"That just popped into my head just now," Rose said. "Rebecca Addleston."

"Right," the Doctor said, coming towards her. "Rose, just relax and let me know what else just pops into your head. If Rebecca Addleston is inside Rose Tyler, I wish to speak with her now. I request parlay under the terms of the Shadow Proclamation which expressly forbids inhabiting another being without their consent. Rebecca, if you're there, who are you? Are you the woman with the dagger?"

"Yes," Rose said.

"That just came to you?" the Doctor said to Rose.

She nodded.

"Very well. Who did you kill? Tell me your story."

"I killed him," Rose said.

The Doctor waited for more but Rose shrugged.

"That's all I'm getting, sorry."

"Killed who, Rebecca."

"Matthew."

"Okay, who is that?"

"My love."

"You killed your lover?" the Doctor said. "Why?"

Rose waited for a response and shook her head when nothing came to her.

"Rose, do you trust me?"

"You know I do."

Lay back on the bed then."

Rose lay back on the bed and loved how comfortable it was.

"I'm going to put you to sleep and try to bring Rebecca forward so I can speak to her personally," the Doctor said.

"Doctor, before you do that, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you take this entire house into your TARDIS?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Well, it'd be tricky but I suppose so. Why?"

Rose told him about her mental image and the Doctor smiled fondly at that.

"You'd rather stay in this musty old house than come and join me in the console room?" he said when she finished.

"Just a thought. You could visit me in this house and have tea," she said.

"You humans. I love your imaginations," he said fondly. "Just keep that image in mind and we'll discuss it later. But for now, I need to have a chat with your new friend. So close your eyes and relax and let me see if I can contact her."

Rose nodded. She closed her eyes and relaxed while the Doctor put his fingertips against her temples.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

After the Doctor put Rose to sleep, he searched for any sign of Rebecca. He searched through her recent memories, smiling at some of the happier ones involving him and her.

_I can see them too._

The Doctor paused in his exploration when he heard an unfamiliar voice inside Rose's head.

_I am Rebecca,_ the voice thought to him.

"I am the Doctor, come forward and speak to me," the Doctor said aloud.

He took his fingertips away from Rose's head and opened his eyes. Rose's eyes opened and she sat up.

"Are you Rebecca?" the Doctor said to her.

"Yes."

"Why have you entered Rose's body?"

"I wanted to feel what it was like to be alive again. It's been so long."

"You do know that this is wrong, right?" the Doctor said.

"What is so wrong about it? She has control over her body," Rebecca said indignantly.

"I don't care. This isn't your body. If you truly are a ghost, your body is gone and it's time for you to move on to wherever you need to go. This is Rose's body, not yours."

"Why don't you love her?"

The Doctor was thrown off by Rebecca's question.

"Love who?" he said.

"Rose. You never tell her you love her. Matthew never said he loved me."

"Can we get back to the point? Are you going to leave Rose alone?"

"She loves you dearly; I see her memories and hear her thoughts."

"Which is why you need to leave. You are violating her privacy by doing that and…"

"Why don't you love her?"

The Doctor sighed angrily.

"I try to be patient, Rebecca, but my patience can run out rather quickly. I want you to leave Rose's body now!"

"What is wrong with men? Why can't they love in return?" Rebecca said angrily.

"Is that why you killed Matthew? Because he wouldn't return your love?"

"Matthew was my one true love as Rose is yours and every time I tried to let him know that, he ignored me. Then he ended up becoming engaged to some ugly old hag. I had an argument with Matthew and I stabbed him. I didn't mean it; I only had the dagger to scare him into loving me. I never meant to hurt him, Doctor. I would never hurt him."

"I believe you but what happened, happened, and it's time to let go and go find peace," the Doctor said.

"But how can I find peace?" Rebecca said, standing up. "Look at what I did!"

"I've done far worse than you," the Doctor said, standing up beside her, "and I've tried to make peace with myself. Now you must do the same and go to wherever you need to be. Rose is inhabiting this body. Now lie back down and let me wake her up."

He grunted when Rebecca slapped his face.

"Rose, I hope that wasn't you," the Doctor said.

"You are a pig. You lead Rose on, making her believe that you love her but you never tell her that you love her. Why?"

"Rebecca, what transpires between Rose and me is not your business," the Doctor growled. "Now leave her!"

"Why won't you tell her you love her?" Rebecca yelled at him.

The Doctor sighed.

"Because that phrase is overused to the point of being banal," the Doctor said. "Why tell her I love her when I can show her over and over that I do. That to me is more of a demonstration of love than a trite little phrase. I don't know what Matthew did to you. I don't know if he truly loved you or if you only thought he did but the man didn't deserve to die for loving someone else. I'm sorry, Rebecca, but perhaps you were a bit too demanding and you lost him to someone else. And I can believe you are a demanding woman since you won't leave Rose and you keep badgering me about my relationship with her. Wherever Matthew's gone and I'm sure he's dead by now, I'm sure he's found peace and it's time you did the same. Locking yourself up in a house and recreating your moment of shame for all eternity won't solve anything. And if you won't get out of Rose's body, I'll find a way to make you leave her!"

"What if she died? What if Rose died? Would you care then?"

"Don't you dare threaten her life, even as a joke," the Doctor snarled at Rebecca. "Get out of her body right now or…"

He yelled Rebecca's name when Rebecca suddenly dashed past him and ran out of the room.

"COME BACK HERE NOW!" the Doctor bellowed as he followed her.

Rebecca ran down the stairs with the Doctor in hot pursuit.

"REBECCA, GET BACK HERE NOW!" the Doctor yelled as he took the stairs two steps at a time while Rebecca reached the bottom and headed for the fireplace.

The Doctor tried to control his rage as he ran after Rebecca. It was his fault. He was the one that put Rose to sleep and now Rebecca had control of her body. The Doctor was impressed that she was so fast. He put on a burst of speed and grabbed her. Rebecca gasped when he jerked to a stop and made her stop as well.

"Get out of her!" the Doctor growled as he tried to force her to the ground.

"You're just like every other man! You use women and discard them whenever you want! Rose will be the same way!" Rebecca yelled at him.

"Get out of her!" the Doctor said, losing his patience.

He forced Rebecca to the ground. Straddling her, he put his fingers against her temples while she protested. He reached into Rose's mind and pursued Rebecca while she tried to flee to a distant part of Rose's mind. He managed to grab her and gritted his teeth while he forced her to get out of Rose. Rebecca howled in anger and frustration and then the Doctor could see no sign of her inside Rose's mind. He quickly woke her up before Rebecca could come back. Rose woke up and looked around in confusion when she noticed she wasn't in the bed anymore.

"What happened?" she said to the Doctor.

"Rebecca resisted when I commanded her to leave and she tried to run. She got down here before I caught up to her and forced her out of your mind."

"Where is she now?" Rose said, sitting up.

"Search me. She's not in you, I know that. Hopefully, she moved on to wherever it was she was supposed to go."

"Then you think she was a ghost then?"

"I don't know. She could have been a convicted criminal and was doomed to be a hologram for murdering Matthew and when you touched her back, you released her and she possessed you. There's no telling what she was but she's gone for the moment. So why don't you have a rest and I'll keep watch over you. Hopefully, we can leave here in the morning."

Rose nodded. The Doctor helped her stand up and they walked to the sofa. Rose lay down on it and the Doctor covered her up with the quilt before he sat down in the chair and kept a watch over her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The storm decreased in intensity after a few hours and began to slowly die down. The Doctor found a couple more logs in the basement after checking to make sure Rose was sleeping peacefully and he added them to the fire. He stoked the fire and when it was blazing, he sat back down in the chair and folded his hands in his lap while he watched Rose.

She was snoring softly and the firelight illuminated her face. The Doctor thought it made her look ever more gorgeous. He frowned while he remembered what Rebecca had said. Did she say all that because of what happened between her and Matthew or did she look into Rose's mind and see a similar frustration and found a kindred spirit.

_Rose, I do love you, I hope you know that,_ the Doctor thought to himself.

He noticed her stirring and he got up and knelt down beside her. Rose opened her eyes, gazed at him and made a face.

"Ew, you again," she said.

The Doctor gave her arm a playful shove when she giggled at that.

"Had a dream about this house in the TARDIS," Rose said.

"You're fixated on that now. Is that a sign of domesticity?" the Doctor said, making a face.

"I just think it's funny. Me in my house and you coming to visit me and having tea in the dining room. Maybe you can capture a milkman and his float and I can have fresh milk every morning."

"Did I ever tell you that your fantasy life both intrigues and disturbs me?"

Rose giggled and the Doctor smiled when she tousled his hair.

"Rebecca didn't come back then?" she asked.

"Haven't seen or heard from her," the Doctor said with a shrug. "Perhaps she decided to move on or else ran for the hills. In any case, it's been uneventful. Even the storm's dying down now. We'll probably be able to go back home tomorrow."

"And bring the TARDIS back here and take this home with us?"

"No!" the Doctor said while Rose laughed. "This home is staying put!"

"Can we take the sofa at least? I love it!"

"I don't travel through time for you to furniture shop and commit petty larceny. Sofa stays here. I can get you a much grander sofa somewhere else."

"Blast, you're no fun," Rose teased.

They fell silent and both of them stared at the fire for a bit.

"Rose, you do know that I care deeply for you, right?" the Doctor finally said.

"Yes," Rose said.

"I try to show that all the time. I prefer to be a man of action rather than words."

"Really? The way you rabbit on about everything, you coulda fooled me. I'm joking," Rose said, laughing, when she saw the annoyed look on the Doctor's face. "Did Rebecca get to you?"

"She said some things that I didn't like. Accused me of being a typical piggish male who didn't care about anyone but myself. Whoever this Matthew was and I suspect he was the man in the portraits, she loved him deeply but he apparently didn't love her or fell out of love. That's why she killed him."

"God," Rose said, shaking her head. "That poor woman. She must have been desperate."

"Would you do that to me?" the Doctor said, looking back at her.

"Kill you if you didn't love me? Get off, I'm not that barmy. I like this body and I don't want to risk it changing if I plunge a machete into it. She really did get to you."

"I just want you to know that you are loved," the Doctor said. "I admit I'm not an expert on women but I don't want you to think for one moment that I don't care about you and that you aren't loved because you are."

"Doctor, calm down, I get that," Rose said as she played with his hair. "I know you love me. I won't come after you with a knife or something like that."

"It's just that I think it's boring to say I love you when I can just show it," the Doctor said.

"Well, you can show it by taking this house into the TARDIS so we can have tea in it."

"You're not gonna stop fixating on that, are you? Will I have to take that memory out of your head now?"

"Nah, I want to have fun daydreaming about you posting a letter through my mail slot and the letter is an invitation to teatime."

She giggled when the Doctor threw up his hands in mock frustration before he chuckled. Rose played with his hair for a bit until her eyes grew heavy and she fell asleep with her hand near the Doctor's head. The Doctor waited until she was asleep before he got up on his knees. He bent over and kissed the back of Rose's hand.

"Sleep well, my love," he whispered. "I love you and I always will."

Rose didn't stir at that but the Doctor didn't mind. He settled back down beside her and watched the fire dancing in the fireplace while he waited for daylight to come.

THE END.


End file.
